Middlebury College

Periodicals Weeding Project Underway

In case you were wondering what all those little orange flags are that are peeking out of many volumes in the Bound Periodicals section on the lower level in the Main Library—fret no more!

Collection Management staff and the Collection Development Librarian, in concert with the Liaisons, have done a major review of our periodical collections, with a focus on withdrawing most titles to which we have online access. These journals, primarily available online via our JSTOR, Project MUSE and PAO collections, are being withdrawn and removed from the collection. And, the orange flags indicate which sets of volumes will be withdrawn as the project progresses.

Begun last spring, we are now about 25 % of the way through pulling JSTOR titles—which represent the largest portion of the project. It is time consuming as many different records for each title involved have to be edited to assure consistency (in MIDCAT: bib, item, and serial-holding records are changed, and in WorldCat holdings records are updated as well.) One important thing to note: Currently, our local holdings, on the A to Z List are becoming more and more out of sync with what is in the collection—that is because it is impossible to update it as we move along. (Electronic Assess does remain current!) A more up-to-date list of local holdings will be generated before the Fall term commences.

Electronic access has proven to be more convenient for both student and faculty researchers, and removing the bound volumes from the shelves provides the library with more flexibility as to how the library space is organized. We expect that this will free up significant space—at latest count, close to 700 shelves will be emptied—allowing for significant consolidation of the Bound Periodicals collection. Titles of particular historic value (e.g., those with important illustrations) will be retained and transferred into Special Collections. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Joe Toth or Terry Simpkins.